Made It to The Big Leagues

[Mexico Joe]

It is with a sad heavy heart that I report the passing of the Cholla Bay Sleigh Ride to a new owner. I'd been messaging this guy that had a center console for sale since the start of the pandemic. Every time the guy would respond with yes it is available. I would then ask can I come look at it? Every time, yes. Then the conversation would just go nowhere. One of these guys that has something to sell but seemingly doesn't want to sell it? You know, the type of assholes you message and they get back to you 36 days later... Like yooooo my man, what am I missing here??? I have money and you have something for sale. Why is it this hard??? Anyways, I was persistent. Some times I went months without messaging the guy. Ad was taken down a couple of months ago so I finally let go of the dream. Then, with no reasoning the ad was back up!!!! So, finally a couple of weeks ago we took the jet ski down and for shits and giggles right when we arrived in town I messaged the guy. We had an hour to kill before we could check into our AirBNB. The guy responds with yes you can come look at it call me. This was the first time in a year we got passed first base. Dude met us at Pollo Lucas and we followed back to his house. There she was!!! 1997 Seaswirl Striper 1730 CC with a 90 horse Evinrude. I climbed up into the boat to inspect. I knocked all over the transom and deck and it was solid. The boat mainly needed elbow grease. Elbow grease is my middle name. We said we were extremely interested and left it at that. A couple of days later when we were back in Phoenix Claudia told me that the only way we were getting this boat is if I sold the jet ski first. I pressure washed it Tuesday after work and waxed it Wednesday when I got home from work. I put the pictures and ad on Offerup at about 1030pm Wednesday night. I woke up to 10 messages and by about mid day Thursday it appeared that it was going to be sold after work. Guy and his wife met me at my place Thursday evening after work and liked what they saw and more importantly in any sales position, the couple liked me. The bought the ski. I was sad to see it go but my focus now turned into anxiety because I was only selling to bank roll this into the center console in RP. I immediately contacted the seller and told him that I sold the ski and now had cash in hand. He was going to be in RP for Memorial so I told him that I would be down Sunday morning to pick it up. Sure as shit, I left Phoenix at 6am, RP by 940am. He was still working off a hangover from the night before so he told me to give him 30 minutes... I went and had brunch at Manny's while waiting. 45 minutes later I was back at the guys house to pick up the boat. We bullshitted for a couple of hours and his wife made some really good ceviche from some Sierra Mackerel, had lunch and then hooked the boat up. Exchanged cash and I was on my way back to Phoenix with my first ever center console boat!!!! Got to the border and the agent goes, where's the rest of your crew?! I said, no crew I just drove down to buy this boat. Obviously that's a red flag!! LOL So like 3 guys hop into the boat and start looking into every nook and knocking on the hull in various places... No registration on the boat and only god knows what AZ plate was/is on the trailer but after their search dude told me, have a good day. I made it back to Phoenix by 6pm. I only got about 11 miles to the gallon towing.... Definitely not a light ass jet ski back there any longer LOL... I was still making passes with the boat though so... LOL

We can't wait to get her out on her maiden voyage but first I need to address some things that I've already seen that need to be done in a "correct" non Mexican manner. I mean that in the least racist way ever but you know how these Mexicans roll down there... Wires tied together and shit... None of the electronics are coming on so I have to see what is up there... All in all, the boat is running and in decent shape. After I get done with her she's going to be a head turner!!! So far the only thing I got done Monday was cleaning the inside of the boat with soap and pressure washing it. No wax yet and she's already looking pretty fricken good.

I'm going to create a list of things that we need to address and maybe a few of the pros here can help me out with a few things...

Here she is!!! Forum, meet boat. Boat meet forum.

CHOLLA BAY 4 LIFE​

 

[Kelney]

Congrats on the new boat and one of the two happiest days of your life! That boat reminds me of my first boat which was a 21 foot Hydrasport with a 150 Evinrude. Those skiff style boats will give you a wet ride in a chop. Just bring your mask and snorkel and you will be all good. Does it have trim tabs? Much needed in the choppy waters of the SOC. If you travel back and forth with it, be prepared to be x-rayed a lot at the border.

Curious, is the salt water boat market pretty active? I thought about selling mine since I rarely use it but it would bring me to tears to sell it as well.

 

[Mexico Joe]

Congrats on the new boat and one of the two happiest days of your life! That boat reminds me of my first boat which was a 21 foot Hydrasport with a 150 Evinrude. Those skiff style boats will give you a wet ride in a chop. Just bring your mask and snorkel and you will be all good. Does it have trim tabs? Much needed in the choppy waters of the SOC. If you travel back and forth with it, be prepared to be x-rayed a lot at the border.

Curious, is the salt water boat market pretty active? I thought about selling mine since I rarely use it but it would bring me to tears to sell it as well.

No trim tabs but I'd like to add them for sure. In Phoenix I think it is because they can't be found but honestly, I wouldn't be the one to ask. I think the ones that do get sold in Phoenix typically get sold for a lot more than similar boats in saturated markets like San Diego, Florida. I also think that if you were going to sell anything, now's the time to do it. The secondary market is on fire right now because new unit sales are down due to shortages. People are paying new prices for used Can Ams right now... Nash Powersports hasn't had any new units in a while because the factory in Quebec is either shut down or behind. Not sure exactly but I know right now that the used car market, used boat market, jet ski, mountain bike, motorcycle /UTV is EN FUEGOOOOO... Pretty insane. I got $3100 for my 97 Seadoo GTX. Some on here might remember what I paid for it... It was the perfect storm. I had to unload it now and try for this boat. Strike while the iron is hot as they say...

 

[Idyllwild]

Good job. I finally got my Hobie Pro Angler 14 and have been driving it around the lagoons in Islas. I’m going to build up some more strength and endurance before I go out into the bay. I’m also thinking about getting a Can Am. The websites for Nash Powersports suggests some limited inventory in Arizona.

 

[Stuart]

Congrats, Joe! Fatten up your wallet, you're going to need to -- you're a boat owner now!!

 

[Mexico Joe]

Congrats, Joe! Fatten up your wallet, you're going to need to -- you're a boat owner now!!

LOL yea that's what I hear but I do plan on doing almost everything myself. Lower end service, water pump (impeller), trim motor, spark plugs... I'm sure there's some things that I may not be able to do but I'm assuming that would be complete engine failure. I've done fiberglass repair on my truck so that's in my bag as well... I think we might be ok but the trailer is definitely not in the greatest condition. The bad part on that for me is that the trailer is aluminum and I can't weld aluminum. The leaf springs and hangers are rusted to shit. Same with the axle. Eventually I'd like to buy an AC/DC Tig machine to start learning how to TIG weld so I can weld aluminum and stainless steel.

I think the immediate issues are:

1. Go through the wiring and clean it up to my standards. I will solder and shrink wrap connections.
2. Figure out if the battery is good. It has 12v in it right now so I think it just needs charged. We might just scrap it for two brand new marine batteries. Regardless we are going to run 2 batteries with an electronic isolator to automatically manage the batteries. All accessories will run off acc battery and then the motor will have it's own for the starter/ignition.
3. Figure out why bilge pump isn't working and or replace bilge pump. Still need to figure out where the bilge pump is. I thought it was always at the back of the boat under deck some times in the battery compartment. I will have to look again.
4. Figure out why the water pump/water inlet for the bait tank isn't turning on.
5. One of the deck drains at the back of the boat the hose on the inside of the battery compartment down inside the hull has been cut off so when I was washing the boat last weekend the hull ended up having about 10 gallons of water in it. The water was going into the drains at the back of the boat but one on port side was just dumping down into the hull. I need to see where that hose it supposed to be routed.

I think that will be enough to get us out to PLEZ to do our first lake test. On the hose the pisser appears to have good pressure but I want to make sure the water pump is in good order as well. I think the first lake test we will simulate a 10-20 mile run and then shut off motor. Then start her up to make sure we don't have any no start issues. I still haven't put the multi-meter on the battery yet with the engine running so that is another thing I have to add to the list above to make sure that the stator/rectifier are charging the battery (batteries).

It's actually really crazy/cool that the Seadoo 2 strokes have so much in common with these 2 SMOKER outboards. I'm so glad I started with the Seadoo first. It gave me ample opportunity for education and hands on learning. Now I can apply that to the boat.

Future additions include:

1. Trim tabs
2. New Decals (wax hull)
3. Seadeck (or more than likely cheaper substitute product on Amazon)
4. Stereo upgrade. Pry 2 more speakers and small 8" subwoofer.
5. LED gunnel lighting
6. transom underwater LED light
7. LED light bar or LED pods on the T-Top
8. Upgraded Sonar (Side scan, Down Scan imaging)
9. New anchor (electric winch)

One of the rocker switches on the dash says shower but I don't see anywhere that we have a fresh water tank. That would be a nice addition if we don't actually have a fresh water tank right now. Unless the "shower" is salt water to wash the deck????

I'm pry missing a few things but that's the direction we're headed.

 

[Stuart]

You gots your work cut out for you! I used to do all my own maintenance, too. Cheaper, and I know it was done RIGHT. Get those electronics working. VHF and sounder at minimum. My handheld GPS was more accurate than the big chartplotter I had on my boat.

 

[Mexico Joe]

Good job. I finally got my Hobie Pro Angler 14 and have been driving it around the lagoons in Islas. I’m going to build up some more strength and endurance before I go out into the bay. I’m also thinking about getting a Can Am. The websites for Nash Powersports suggests some limited inventory in Arizona.

Yea, they're having some difficulty receiving new units from factory. I believe Bombardier is out of Quebec Canada so maybe still some after effects of covid. If you want to talk to Claudia let me know. She'd be able to tell you more than I can. I know it's not a Nash Powersports problem at all. They are actually a platinum or I forget what they call the top priority dealers in America but Nash is a top priority dealer like Ride Now as well. They receive units before 90% of any other dealers in America. Crazy fact. AZ is the number one market for SXS in America. Nash and Ride Now are basically the cream of the crop in terms of priority for new units coming out of the Bombardier factory. Same with Robbie Gordon. Nash is one of 2 or 3 top dealers for the new Speed SXS. When they actually come out that is. Product still in testing.

The last couple of months Claudia has been telling me that people are coming from Oregon, Texas and surrounding states to buy new units. I think that is the other part of the problem. Supply chain is fractured so only top tier dealerships are getting new units so Nash powersports market has effectively just become the entire southwest instead of the state or metro phoenix area.

But if you have any questions I would hook you up with her and she can get you squared away with someone at Nash that can answer those questions or guide you through the buying process. She can answer a lot of those questions but she manages the service department and new builds. So when you buy a unit and accessorize it. Now, if you buy a unit from Nash then you definitely want to just contact Claudia for anything that you need. She's a human parts catalogue, accessories, what's popular, what's BS... She runs the schedule too and she's on top of her game so no having your car there for 2 months and it hasn't been touched yet or anything like what you'll hear about at RIDE NOW. Apparently people buy units at RIDE NOW and have them serviced at Nash Powersports. Claudia has built up a fairly large and loyal clientele just because of her professionalism. She's a type A like me...

 

[Mexico Joe]

You gots your work cut out for you! I used to do all my own maintenance, too. Cheaper, and I know it was done RIGHT. Get those electronics working. VHF and sounder at minimum. My handheld GPS was more accurate than the big chartplotter I had on my boat.

Yea I already do pretty much everything auto related anyways, jet ski was all me so I figure with the exception of replacing the power head or something major, I'm going to be able to do the maintenance. It's not like there's not a wealth of information online if you search hard enough. Last summer I did a head gasket on my old Honda Civic and decked the head myself to the FSM tolerance of 2hundred thousandths. Water pump too. Thing was good until a couple of months later when a rod bearing let go and rod knock developed. At this point in my life I know for a fact I could rebuild the motor but I have too many things going on right now and my girlfriend says that we have to sell it. I keep joking that I want to turbo it but we have 5 cars right now so it has to go. I'm thinking $600 just to get it out of here. It's been sitting for 6 months now. That's BOAT MONEY right there!!! LOL

 

[Kelney]

I would put number 9 as number 2 on your to do list. Maybe even number 1. Dealing with an anchor sucks. Like really sucks. I use the anchor ball method and even that, well you know... If I was to add anything to my boat it would be a windlass. I have gotten to the point where I just drift over points of the reef rather than deal with an anchor. It works ok but you are susceptible of losing some terminal tackle. What few shit shows I have had on the water can typically be contributed with an anchor.

Your shower is more likely a raw water shower. It's great for washing your hands and rinsing the blood and guts from your boat. Once you get to shore, then get a fresh water rinse and flush the motor.

Don't be in a rush to do all of your underwater lighting unless you plan on using it on lakes. Fishing shuts down at dark and coming in at dark can be a little unnerving because your truly driving blind and using your electronics, as you cant see beyond your bow. I have done it many of time as I have had no bites all day until an hour before dark and the bite finally goes off. This typically results in a dark ride home and you pray you don't hit something lurking on the surface on the way in.

 

[joester]

congrats on your new boat!
you do know what the acronym means, right?
Break
Out
Another
Thousand
Have fun, make sure that drain plug is secure, and an extra on board.

 

[Mexico Joe]

congrats on your new boat!
you do know what the acronym means, right?
Break
Out
Another
Thousand
Have fun, make sure that drain plug is secure, and an extra on board.

Bro! Have you seen my truck?! Boat guys think boats are expensive. Try building and maintaining a prerunner!!

 

[Mexico Joe]

I would put number 9 as number 2 on your to do list. Maybe even number 1. Dealing with an anchor sucks. Like really sucks. I use the anchor ball method and even that, well you know... If I was to add anything to my boat it would be a windlass. I have gotten to the point where I just drift over points of the reef rather than deal with an anchor. It works ok but you are susceptible of losing some terminal tackle. What few shit shows I have had on the water can typically be contributed with an anchor.

Your shower is more likely a raw water shower. It's great for washing your hands and rinsing the blood and guts from your boat. Once you get to shore, then get a fresh water rinse and flush the motor.

Don't be in a rush to do all of your underwater lighting unless you plan on using it on lakes. Fishing shuts down at dark and coming in at dark can be a little unnerving because your truly driving blind and using your electronics, as you cant see beyond your bow. I have done it many of time as I have had no bites all day until an hour before dark and the bite finally goes off. This typically results in a dark ride home and you pray you don't hit something lurking on the surface on the way in.

Where would the shower hook up be? I see where the water is drawn from the back of the boat for the bait tank. Also, anchor and LED lights are for lake Pleasant. We are avid Plez users. Ocean we plan on drift fishing and or trolling mainly. I wouldn't mind Windlass but they're expensive. I've seen electric winch for boats that are in the $150 range that I'm thinking about trying. On the subject of anchor, any of you use a drift sock? Drift anchor? I guess just more shit to deal with. Trying to KISS!!! Keep It Simple Stupid

 

[Mexico Joe]

Went out there this afternoon before the Suns game and got on my knees and stuck my head into the battery compartment. It's an absolute shit show! The bilge pump was underneath about an inch or two of sediment, mud and sand. I'd say it's toast. The connections are either butt connected or just tied together so not ruling out open circuit in the wiring but if I had to guess the pump is toast. The best part. They had the bilge pump being powered by the stern light!! LOL so I guess if you turned on the stern light the bilge pump would run??!!!!!!!!! Obviously we have to fix that to be legal out at Plez. I'm going to re-wire everything so no worries there. The bait tank pump/filter housing thing is back under there too. Not sure if it's not hooked up either or just burnt out. The boat has some kind of battery charger/isolator but it's an old one. The size of a brick! LOL The new ones these days are small enough to fit in your hand. They had added a harness for a second battery but the best part about this is that the accessories were still being run off of the primary battery so when you hook up another battery in the second spot it does nothing to boost the primary because it's being isolated which is the opposite of how the system should work. LOL so this is an absolute shit show but the good thing is, I'm anal and this will be corrected and fixed appropriately.

 

[Mexico Joe]

Any guesses on how big this gas tank is???? I've read that it is likely poly too which would be good if that's true. I'm hoping 60 gallons... Is that a stretch? I can't find shit about this boat online. The VRO system was deleted as well. Still not sure how I feel about that. Just like Seadoo the oil injection system is a variable rate system. The only thing though is that I read that the VRO pump is like $450 and to not skimp out. PO deleted the VRO and installed a regular fuel pump in the location but still left the oil tank and lines hooked up so oil is spewing out of somewhere into the engine bay at the back of the boat. Oil tank in the battery compartment is full of oil so I guess I'm going to take it out of there to free up some room. I guess these motors don't load up at idle or trolling with the VRO removed. I can't find any info that says premixing is worse than VRO so I guess we'll run premix for now.

 

[GringoZona]

Hahaha can you please

Like fhis?

I love your streaming of thoughts otherwise.

You are probably the best thing here besides oh... I can't say

 

[Nicolai]

Well congrats Joe! I've been eyeballing the idea of a jet ski set up lately especially after your monster sleigh ride with the corvina or sea bass the other year. That and with the extreme tides I was kayak fishing last week sure is a lot of work paddling back in where a jet ski can get me anywhere regardless of tide lol. Also been looking at that 21' center console in Cholla just before JJs. Good luck with the new ride!

 

[Jungle Jim]

Hey Joe.....

Looks like no one is interested in steering you in the right direction to rig your boat.

Try these two, I've been using them for many years now:

iBOATS.COM

boatus.com

Boat US has stores in San Diego and are tied in to West Marine.

Good luck!

JJ

 

[Mexico Joe]

Hey Joe.....

Looks like no one is interested in steering you in the right direction to rig your boat.

Try these two, I've been using them for many years now:

iBOATS.COM

boatus.com

Boat US has stores in San Diego and are tied in to West Marine.

Good luck!

JJ

Thanks JJ!!! I knew I could count on you! Now give up those marks!!! El Producer no esta producing...

 

[Mexico Joe]

Well congrats Joe! I've been eyeballing the idea of a jet ski set up lately especially after your monster sleigh ride with the corvina or sea bass the other year. That and with the extreme tides I was kayak fishing last week sure is a lot of work paddling back in where a jet ski can get me anywhere regardless of tide lol. Also been looking at that 21' center console in Cholla just before JJs. Good luck with the new ride!

I felt so bad. I broke some poor bastards heart when another guy offered full price and I knew that I couldn't pay someone else to buy my jet ski, AKA give this guy a deal and leave money on the table. Guy wants it for 28, another guy says 34 if it's good. I can't pay someone $600 to buy my jet ski so I had to break this poor bastards heart and then he took offense to it! I was like, brother, is this your first OfferUp/Craigslist experience??? Some you win, some you lose. I can't pay you to buy my shit. I needed every dollar to bank roll into the boat.

My advice on the jet ski after 4 years.

If you can do the work yourself and you just want it for Cholla Bay and staying within a couple hundred yards to maybe half mile then any 96 + Seadoo GTI/GTX is your uncle. Preferably you'd find one that just needs a little TLC and get a decent deal on it.

If you wanted one that you could take out further reliably and start every time no matter what. 4 stroke. You'd have to sack up and drop twice as much but twice as much reliability. The only other thing that I would have done. Right before we sold it, I was shopping Amazon for a battery isolator and second battery because the Seadoo starting system is BASURA!!!!!!!! The 20ah battery is just not enough. If you read on the forums for Seadoo EVERYONE experiences this 12v LOW reading on the dash with brand new batteries!!! I just think they needed like a 30ah for cranking amps. After doing the top end I had so much compression that the thing barely wants to start cranking. At the end of the day you could tell the battery was taxed a little. All of this was with a working magneto/rectifier. When motor running battery confirmed charging using my multi-meter. Two battery set up and I wouldn't be stressed. We did take that jet ski out 5 miles straight west out of Cholla Bay the first year we had it. I never did it again though because I never truly believed in the battery capacity. It never didn't start (double negative) but there were times I could tell that it was close at the end of the day. I don't think they charge well at idle speed and that jet ski spent 90% of it's life with me at idle speed trolling lures... so....

But you definitely NEED ONE OBVIOUSLY!!!!